Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
January 8, 2014

The 87 houses in Lancaster, St James, Phase
One and Two, are not occupied because successful
candidates have not been able to obtain mortgages.
However, Minister of Housing, Lands and Rural
Development Denis Kellman told Barbados
TODAY he was looking at ways to get them
occupied even without completed mortgages.
In relation to the environmental issues that
surfaced about two years ago, Kellman said those
had been resolved and it was just a matter of people
getting their mortgages done.
“There are people who have gone in to the
[National Housing Corporation] and signed up, so
we are completing transactions on the ones that
are completed and on the ones that have not been
completed have been allocated. Lancaster is not a
problem it is just to get the people in,” said Kellman.
“We are working on a solution which might see
the people in before they complete their mortgages,”
he said, “We have been very proactive on that and I
have brought an approach that I am hoping the board
[of the NHC] will see eye to eye and you might soon
see people in those houses before they even finish
paying their mortgage,” added Kellman.
He declined to give details about that plan.
In 2012 it was reported that the NHC, the
Government agency with responsibility for allocating
the houses, received over 5,000 applications. It
was noted that the timber houses, which are
approximately 476 square feet, were sold for $52,000
each; the wall houses, also about 476 square feet,
were priced at $83,000 and the houses that are
826 square feet are priced at $92,000.
(MM)